


Waffle House is a Liminal Space

by crystallineflowers



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Faeries - Freeform, Lance's family is briefly mentioned, M/M, Magic, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Supernatural - Freeform, Urban Fantasy, Waffle House, fae, super background shallura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-28 03:05:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15039305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystallineflowers/pseuds/crystallineflowers
Summary: Lance gets a new job at the local Waffle House through his best friend Hunk. He starts to get the idea that the patrons (and the employees) aren't... quite what they seem.His grandmother had always warned him about the fae, about the spirits that wanted to trick him or hurt him. He always thought she was full of it, but maybe she wasn't so far off...





	Waffle House is a Liminal Space

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I wrote this on impulse because I was talking in a Discord chat about how much I missed Waffle House. I live on the West coast now, and the closest one is in ARIZONA! I'm so sad.  
> Waffle Houses are liminal spaces and I will fight you on this. They're portals to another realm. So obviously the fae like to eat there, too.

Lance grew up hearing strange stories – his town was full of lore of the fae, of shapeshifters, of the things that go bump in the night. He grew up knowing to never investigate the sounds outside your house at night. He never looked too closely into the corn fields after sunset. His family had code words to be spoken at night if one left the house – he wouldn’t be let in after curfew unless he gave up his word.

Long story short, Lance thought it was all _bullshit._

He didn’t know why he was thinking about that _now,_ on his first day of his new job at the local Waffle House.

“Hey, man! You’re early!” a familiar voice called. He spotted a large person at the stovetop, pressing his spatula down on some hashbrowns that sizzled on contact – Hunk, Lance’s best friend for years. He swore they were separated at birth or something. In fact, it was Hunk who landed him the job in the first place – they suddenly had an opening for a server position, and Hunk thought Lance fit the bill perfectly.

Hunk brought Lance to the back room, where he was handed his own apron and hat. Lance frowned at it.

“Do I actually have to wear this? My hair looks so good today!”

“Yes, Lance, you have to wear the uniform. Trust me, it’ll look good on you!” Hunk clapped a huge hand on Lance’s shoulder and went back to work, leaving him alone with what was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

His coworker had long platinum blond hair, tied up in an intricate bun that somehow, against all logic, fit just under her cap. Her bright eyes seemed to change color the longer Lance looked at them. First they were blue – no, green – _no,_ is she wearing pink contacts? Her dark skin seemed to glow under the fluorescent lighting of the restaurant, and Lance was _smitten._

“Why, _hello_ there, beautiful. Do you – wait, are your ears pointy?”

The woman simply raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at him. “My ears are perfectly normal. What about yours? They’re hideous.”

Lance gasped and covered his ears with his hands. “They are perfectly fine and they heard what you said about them!”

She stared flatly at him for half a second before brushing past him, calling “Follow me” over her shoulder like an afterthought.

Lance eventually learned that the beautiful woman’s name was Allura, and she was the manager of their restaurant. She told him in a commanding tone what was expected of him at work – never judge the customers, serve everything with a smile, _always_ ask how someone’s day went, and _never ever thank them_. He rolled his eyes at the last one, figuring that she just held to the belief that fairies existed and somehow hated being thanked. It was silly, really.

Near the end of his shift, a rather sketchy-looking man walked into the restaurant and seated himself at the bar. Lance thought his eyes looked yellow, but that had to be the light – people didn’t have yellow eyes. The man shifted nervously at Lance’s approach, even though Lance gave his best smile.

“Welcome to Waffle House! How may I serve you today? Perhaps a cup of coffee? Oh, well, it’s getting rather late, I hadn’t even realized the sun had gone down…” he mused, pressing his pen to his bottom lip and lightly chewing at the cap. The man watched his every move like a hawk, sitting stock-still. Lance tried to shake the creepy feeling he was getting. “Maybe a glass of water or orange juice?”

“Coffee,” the man barked, nearly startling Lance. He brushed it off and beamed.

“Right away, sir. Creamer with that?”

“N-no, I’m good.”

“Very well!”

Lance wrote down the coffee order on a fresh ticket and moved to fill it, slipping past Hunk. His friend whispered “You’re doing great!” as he passed, giving a thumbs-up as he flipped a burger on the grill. Why did a place like Waffle House even have burgers?

_Who goes to a place like this and orders a burger, of all things?_

When Lance brought the coffee back, the man was staring intently at Hunk’s back. He paid no attention to the mug set in front of him, nor to Lance’s smiling face, which should have been _breathtaking_ , dammit. Hunk seemed to realize he was the object of attention, as he turned around and visibly brightened upon seeing the man.

“Steve! Hey, man, how you doing? Been a while since you came in. You want the usual?”

“Yeah, please,” he said gruffly, deflating slightly. Lance thought he looked calmer. He was a regular? But he looked – no, Lance wasn’t going to go there. Allura said to withhold all judgement. He could do that, right?

When Steve left, Lance could have sworn he saw long fangs and a thin forked tongue as the man smiled at Hunk on his way out, but that was probably just his imagination.

~O~

Lance settled into his new job pretty quickly. He learned the easiest way to avoid saying “thank you”. He learned that Allura was definitely _not_ interested in him. He learned that her family friend, Coran, was also a regular, and would strut in like he owned the place whenever he visited. Out of all the regulars, Lance liked Coran the best.

Speaking of the regulars, Lance thought there was something… off about them. During the day, the customers seemed normal. Just your regular run-of-the-mill neighbors coming in for breakfast, or a quick snack before an interview, or for some sort of basic food good for a hangover. But once the sun went down, the customers got real weird real quick.

First, there was Steve. Steve walked like he wasn’t quite used to owning legs, as if he had suddenly sprouted them and was just getting the hang of walking. There was Blaytz, who Lance was pretty sure was a god. He was big and buff and had the voice of an angel. Lance was ready to give him his number the minute he walked in – but Hunk was standing in his way, giving him a look of warning, and who was he to doubt Hunk? So he admired Blaytz from afar.

There was Veronica, the small bubbly girl who got along with Allura in a way that no one else quite could. It’s like they had this weird connection that Lance couldn’t quite put his finger on, and sometimes when he heard them talking, he still couldn’t understand what was being said.

Pidge was a regular, but also worked there. Pidge was small, sly, but surprisingly friendly. They treated Lance like an older sibling, which he took as a compliment considering Pidge _did_ have an older sibling. Matt frequented their Waffle House, but he wasn’t there as often as Pidge was, so Lance got to bond instead. Pidge fit in with him and Hunk as if they had always been there, as if they belonged.

But… occasionally, Lance would catch snippets of conversation between them, and he wouldn’t understand a word they said.

Now that he thought about it, that happened with _everyone_ who worked there.

Lance was going to pursue that train of thought, but he was suddenly cut short when the _prettiest man he’d ever seen_ walked through the door.

Scratch that – _two_ of the prettiest men he’d ever seen.

The first was shorter, with jet black hair that looked too dark to be natural. He was scowling at the man behind him, who was easily half a foot taller and at least twice the first man’s size. The larger of the two had dark hair except for a shock of white for his bangs. He was smiling at the smaller one, his smug face giving Lance the impression that he had just told a bad joke and had gotten the exact reaction he was looking for. They seated themselves at the bar, and Lance had to pause for a moment to gather his thoughts because the backdrop of the setting sun made these two men _entirely_ too attractive.

“W-welcome to Waffle House! What can I get you today?”

The shorter man finally looked towards Lance, piercing him with dark eyes that seemed a strange color – but it was probably just the lighting. He leaned forward onto the bar, putting his weight on his elbows. His leather jacket tightened around his shoulders and Lance tried hard not to notice. He took his time looking Lance over, and it wasn’t until he began to shift uncomfortably that the other man leaned forward.

This man’s biceps looked like they were going to rip through his shirt, and Lance really just wanted to be bench pressed. He thought that was a grand idea. Grey eyes sparkled at him over an easy smile.

“Yeah, can we get two coffees?”

_We. Can_ we _get two coffees._

Of course, they were probably together. Beautiful people tended to flock together.

“Sure thing! Would you like creamer with that?”

“Yeah,” the leather-clad one said, his voice like honey. _How_ could a man have a voice that smooth? That just wasn’t fair. Lance nodded and grabbed their coffees, dropped off some creamer, and said a quick “I’ll be right back to take your orders,” before retreating to the back room.

Blessedly, Hunk was still on his break, so he had his best friend to dramatically trust-fall into.

“HUNK, IT’S A TRAGEDY,” Lance wailed, collapsing onto his friend who caught him effortlessly.

“What beautiful person walked in today? Was it Blaytz again? He’s bad news, man, you really should stay away from him.”

“NO. It’s not Blaytz, although I’m glad you see that he is indeed beautiful.” Lance gave his best pouting face and locked eyes with Hunk. “Bro. Two of the most beautiful men I’ve ever seen just walked in.”

“Describe them, buddy, they might be regulars.”

“One of them had this dark black hair that was… kinda long? But not all over, he had bangs – _oh my God, Hunk, he has a mullet._ ”

Hunk blinked at him.

“I can’t believe this. He has a mullet. And I find him attractive. What has the world come to?”

“What about the other one?”

“He’s super big, buff, could easily rip me in half and that’s super hot. Dark hair, but has white bangs. He has a great smile, too.”

Hunk nodded to himself and pushed Lance upright so he could stand on his own. “I think I know who you’re talking about, but let me go check. Wait – why is this a tragedy?”

“Because there is NO WAY either of them is single. In fact, I think they’re dating each other.”

Hunk laughed, so loudly and suddenly that it startled Lance. He clapped a hand on Lance’s shoulder and leaned in, grinning widely. Were Hunk’s teeth always that sharp?

“Buddy, if those two are who I think they are, they’re definitely _not_ dating. They’re brothers.”

Lance’s mind went blank.

Brothers?

~O~

Lance soon found out that they were indeed regulars – Keith was the one with the mullet, and Shiro was the buff one. Pidge told him that they were adopted brothers, but they didn’t give any more details than that. He did, however, find out that Shiro and Allura were a Thing when she walked into her shift with her arm looped through his. She planted a kiss on his cheek before heading to the back room, and Lance only had a minor internal breakdown at the loss of hot real estate.

Keith, however, seemed to be totally available, which would have been great if they didn’t bicker all the time. There was something about Keith that made Lance want to push his buttons – he didn’t know what it was, and he didn’t really care. He just knew there was something about Keith that drew Lance to him.

Maybe it was his eyes – he still couldn’t decide what color they were. Were they blue? Were they grey? Maybe they were purple – no, purple wasn’t an eye color.

Maybe it was his smile. Keith had a small, soft smirk that he gave Lance whenever he cracked a stupid joke. Occasionally he would roll his eyes, but the smile was still there, making Lance’s day brighter.

Maybe it was his voice like honey, smooth as silk even when raised in annoyance as Lance instigated yet another stupid competition. Allura at least seemed to find their rivalry amusing – she never called him out on it, only gave him gentle reminders to get back to work.

All in all, Lance was happy with his new job. He got to see Hunk every day (seriously, did the guy ever take a day off?). He quickly befriended Pidge and Allura, and Coran by extension. He got used to seeing some of the regulars, and was even comfortable enough with Steve to ask him one day when he got his tongue cut to make it split like that. Steve only smiled a rather sharp grin on his way out, informing Lance that he has always been like that.

~O~

His grandmother accosted him the moment he walked in the door. “ _Lance! Come here, quickly, I have something I want to give you_ ,” she shouted across the house. He wasn’t entirely sure how she knew that he had walked in, but after years of her just knowing, he shrugged it off and met her in the living room where she sat in her fluffy armchair.

“ _Welcome home, my darling grandson,_ ” she continued in Spanish. She had never really gotten the hang of English, so she spoke in Spanish whenever they didn’t have company over. Lance stepped closer and gave her a kiss on the cheek, noticing that she clutched something tightly within her hands. “ _I made this charm for you, Lance. Be a dear and wear it when you go out. For me? It will set this old woman’s heart at ease._ ” She held her hands out, thrusting something into Lance’s chest. He took it from her carefully.

“What is this? A necklace?” He held it in front of his face to inspect it. The necklace was simple, just a black leather cord with a few beads strung onto it. The pendant at the bottom looked like a simple rock, a pebble found on the side of the road. It had a large hole in the center, smoothed at the edges as if it had worn away naturally.

“ _It will allow you to see the truth,_ ” his grandmother said solemnly. “ _Things are changing around here, my dear. Something is stirring. It is not safe for you to be in the dark._ ” She reached out and took his hand in her own, holding much more tightly than he thought she was capable. “ _Wear it always, grandson. See the truth._ ”

Lance swallowed hard, a knot settling in his stomach despite himself. “O-okay, Nanna. I’ll wear it.”

Lance went to sleep rolling the stone between his fingers, tugging at the leather around his neck.

~O~

Allura immediately noticed the stone around his neck when he came in for work the next day. She stared at it and frowned, but she said nothing and went back to her work. Lance thought it was a little strange. Maybe she was worried it would get in the way? He wasn’t sure how, but he still didn’t entirely understand how she thought, so he let it be.

Hunk greeted him enthusiastically when he saw Lance. “Hey, man! How’s it going? Ohh, what’s that around your neck, buddy?”

“Oh, this?” Lance touched it without thinking. “Just something my grandma gave me. Said it would ‘help me see the truth’ or whatever. I’m mainly wearing it to make her happy.”

“Wow, your grandma sure is superstitious.”

“Yeah, but what can ya do? It doesn’t really bother me.”

While the stone definitely _didn’t_ bother him, it did seem to bother some of the regulars. Lance thought the restaurant seemed tense whenever someone noticed it, although only Hunk had actually brought it up. About halfway through his shift he tucked the stone under his shirt, but he still felt awkward around Allura, and even Coran when he came in. He felt as if someone was constantly staring at his back as he moved through the restaurant.

He felt a strange sense of relief when Shiro and Keith walked in, bringing a sense of normalcy with them. Lance plastered his award-winning smile on his face and greeted them as they sat at the bar. They ordered their usual (the All Star Special, one with bacon and one with sausage, although both wound up on Shiro’s plates anyway), but then fell into silence. Lance paused by their seats and looked a bit more carefully at Keith.

Keith looked… well, exhausted. He had bags under his dark eyes, and his hair looked as if he hadn’t brushed it in days. Without thinking, Lance reached out and pulled a twig from his hair. Keith didn’t even react until Lance set it down on the counter in front of him.

“Hey, man,” he said quietly, leaning in so Keith could hear him. “You doing okay?”

Keith blinked slowly, then yawned. “Y-yeah, it’s just… been rough at work.”

Shiro yawned beside him, and Lance had to fight the urge to follow suit. He hated how those things were contagious. “We’ve been working nonstop.”

“Why? What’s been going on?”

Keith and Shiro exchanged a look. “We, uh… can’t really tell you that,” Shiro said slowly.

“What? Why not?”

“Our work has to be kept secret,” Keith said, not meeting Lance’s eyes. Lance narrowed his gaze, pouting at Keith, but Keith wouldn’t budge. Lance sighed and relaxed, unfolding his arms from where he had crossed them.

“Alright, so you can’t tell me. Is there anything I can do?”

Keith shook his head, but suddenly grew very still as his eyes landed on Lance’s chest, just below the hollow of his throat. Confused, Lance put a hand up – his necklace had fallen out of his shirt again, showing the stone pendant.

“Oh, my grandma made me this. Not really sure what it does, but it makes her happy for me to wear it, so I do.”

“… That’s… nice of you,” Keith said haltingly.

The rest of their stay was similarly awkward, and both Keith and Shiro left in a hurry after they paid. Lance was left feeling lost as he wrapped up his shift at work.

He clocked out at 3am, as he always did, a knot in his stomach. Why had everyone acted so strangely today? Even Hunk seemed anxious – well, more anxious than usual. Pidge had given him a wide berth when they walked in for their shift. None of the regulars would even _talk_ to him.

He tried to shrug it off as just a weird day, and he was just overreacting.

The drive home was mostly average. At one point he swerved to avoid a rabbit, but overall it was a normal night. He simultaneously loved and hated how far out his family lived. He liked the seclusion, and that they could have their own farm, and that they were separated from most of the light pollution so the stars were brighter. He didn’t like how long it took to get home, or the fact that he saw deer almost every night and had to be constantly on the alert for them. Deer were stupid, and they liked to run directly at cars when they saw them.

Something jumped at Lance’s car so quickly he has no chance to figure out what it is – he moved on instinct, yanking the wheel to one side and swerving towards the side of the road. The world spun, and suddenly stopped, and Lance stared at the dashboard for a few moments, dazed.

What had just happened?

He unbuckled his seatbelt with shaky hands and somehow managed to get the door open. At first glance, the car seemed fine. He couldn’t see or smell any smoke, and there didn’t seem to be any damage.

There was just the small matter of him being stuck in a ditch, his rear tire hovering over the edge of it, still rotating.

Lance’s mind cleared, and he groaned. He was so close to home, but there was no way he’d be able to get that car out on his own. Resigned, he reached into it and pulled the keys out of the ignition. The sudden silence enveloped him. He gathered his bag from the back seat and locked the car, although he doubted there was any point to that anymore.

His family had always told him not to go near the corn fields at night. Strange creatures lurked there, ready to take you away into the darkness. People had vanished in the stalks. Lance figured it was all just a story to keep the kids inside the house at night and to keep people out of their crops, but now he wasn’t so sure. He had a strange feeling, as if he were being watched.

Lance turned around to ensure he was alone, but felt no better. He kept walking.

A breeze blew past Lance, making the corn rustle gently. The sound relaxed him slightly. He began to hum to himself, a silly tune he had heard on the radio earlier, before that thing had jumped out at his car. He supposed it must have been a deer – what else could it be?

The corn rustled a little more, but then suddenly there was silence.

And then a hard tug, and Lance was falling into the corn, and something was holding him tightly, too tightly, a hand – no, _claws_ against his neck, cutting off his air, and he couldn’t scream and he couldn’t see and he couldn’t fight back –

Just as suddenly, the weight was gone, and he was gasping for air on the ground, broken corn stalks digging into his back. He heard growling by his head, and there was a scuffle, and then silence.

More silence.

Still quiet.

Lance sat up.

A hand on his shoulder sent him scurrying back, but he heard “Lance, it’s okay! It’s me!” in a familiar voice.

“… Keith?!” Lance scrambled to find his phone, feeling a surge of relief when he found it safely in his pocket. “Oh my god, Keith, what are you doing out here –“

Lance cut himself off as he turned on his flashlight. Keith looked, for lack of a better term, like a deer in headlights. Only he wasn’t a deer.

He didn’t even look human.

The first thing Lance noticed was how Keith’s eyes seemed to glow with the shine of the flashlight. He knew, from reading something years ago, that humans didn’t have eyeshine like cats did. But Keith definitely had it.

The second thing he noticed was long, sharp fangs pointing out of his mouth, digging into his lips. His jaw looked larger than before, his mouth held at an odd angle as if he had too many teeth to fit in his mouth.

Then the _ears_. Keith had huge fluffy ears perched atop his head, too big to be ears like a fox or a wolf. He couldn’t see many details in the darkness, just that they were _there_ and clearly had _not_ been there a few hours earlier.

Finally, the icing on the cake – curled over his shoulders was a pair of hulking wings, bent oddly as if they couldn’t stretch out totally. But what did Lance know about wings? What did Lance know about _wings on people?_

Keith opened his mouth as if to say something, but abruptly turned around and sprinted away, leaving Lance alone.

What the hell had just happened?

~O~

When Lance finally got home, stumbling through the door after giving up his password, his family was frantic. His mother was nearly hysterical, tears heavy in her eyes as she touched his shoulder. Her hand came away bloody. When had he been injured? Lance couldn’t remember.

The rest of the night was a blur. Someone patched up his shoulder and insisted he stay home the next day so that he could get the wound checked out by a doctor. His siblings were more interested in what caused him to drive off the road in the first place – some part of him made sure to hide what he saw. As far as his family knew, the wound came from driving into the ditch, _not_ from something grabbing him and pulling him into the corn field.

The looks his grandmother gave him throughout the night made it clear that she saw through him, but she asked no questions, and he was finally allowed to go to bed.

Lance lied in bed that night until the sun rose, playing through the scene in his head. Had he really been attacked by some animal? Or was it something more like Keith? What even _was_ Keith? Maybe he just had a concussion and had hallucinated the entire thing. He tossed restlessly, falling into a fitful sleep. His dreams were full of shining eyes and sharp fangs, and a voice like honey.

~O~

When Lance pulled up to work a few days later, he hesitated in the parking lot. He clutched his charm tightly in his hand. Maybe his grandmother had been onto something… He took a deep breath and picked up the charm, loosening the cord so it would reach up to his eyes. He looked through the stone at the Waffle House door in front of him…

It looked totally normal.

Lance breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, it was all in his head. He must have hit it on the steering wheel or something. Before he could get out of the car, or even lower the stone from his eye, Hunk burst through the door, running full sprint towards where Lance had parked.

But Lance didn’t see Hunk.

Lance saw a huge alligator, wearing Hunk’s clothes, its long tail thrown out behind it as it rushed towards him on all four limbs.

Vaguely, Lance was aware he was screaming, but nothing felt real. He dropped the charm from his face and suddenly Hunk was there again, staring worriedly at him through his windshield. Lance raised a shaky hand and practically fell out of his car. His friend seemed to realize something was up, as he kept his distance.

“Buddy? Are you okay? Man, I was so worried after hearing you got in an accident –“

“Hunk, tell me what the hell is going on,” Lance said flatly. Hunk froze as Lance gripped the charm around his neck. “I need you to be totally honest with me. One hundred percent. Okay?”

Hunk visibly gulped, but nodded anyway.

Just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, Lance pinched himself. Then he held the stone up to his eye again.

There was definitely still an alligator standing in front of the Waffle House.

_Great._

“What the hell is this stone doing to my vision,” he said flatly. The alligator ducked it’s head, opened it’s jaws, and against all odds, Hunk’s voice came out.

“It’s just what your grandma said it would do.” Lance dropped the stone again, and Hunk looked normal. “It shows you the truth.”

“But what IS the truth?!” Lance yelled. “Is the truth that you’re a goddamn alligator? Because that’s what I’m seeing!”

Hunk rubbed his neck and wouldn’t meet Lance’s stare. “Uh, yeah, about that…”

“What in the world is going on out here?”

Lance turned his glare to Allura, who looked taken aback at his expression.

“Maybe _you’ll_ tell me!” He took the charm off and thrust it at her, the stone dangling between them. It served no purpose, as she still stood too far away to even take it, but he hoped it made a point. “What the _hell is going on here?!_ ”

Allura looked at the stone, then at Hunk, and then sighed. “Lance, perhaps you should come inside…”

“No! I don’t want to go inside, I just want to know what’s going on!” He looked at her through the stone, surprised to see that she looked… fairly normal.

If you counted long pointed ears and glowing marks on her face _normal._

“SEE?! You look different! Hunk looks like an _alligator!_ WHAT IS GOING ON?!”

“I’m a faerie, Lance,” Allura said bluntly. “And Hunk is a shapeshifter.”

Lance sputtered, his hand falling limply to his side. The cord of the charm caught in his fingers, just barely safe from falling to the ground.

“Lance, please, just come inside. It is safer to discuss this away from the public eye.” Allura stepped closer and held out her hand. “Would we ever hurt you? You’re our friend. We want you to understand.”

“C’mon, buddy, you can trust us,” Hunk said quietly. Lance couldn’t help but laugh bitterly even as he stepped forward.

“Yeah, trust. Like I can trust you to tell me stuff like this.”

Hunk and Allura guided him inside. Allura was more serious than Lance had ever seen her, except maybe when they had first met. Hunk was his usual anxious self, but Lance couldn’t get the thought of an alligator wearing his clothes out of his head.

Thinking back on it, now that he’s just sorta accepted it, it was kind of funny.

Pidge was waiting inside, their face showing worry even though it was clear they were trying to hide it.

“It’s about time you got back,” they said. Lance hesitated for half a moment before holding the stone up to his eye again. He saw Pidge’s eyes grow wide before his vision changed. Sitting in their clothes, the Waffle House hat perched on their head, was a small red fox. The ears poked out under the hat at an odd angle. Lance lowered the stone, and there was Pidge again, staring at him warily.

“You’re a fox,” he said weakly. Pidge nodded slowly. “Does… does that mean Matt is a fox, too?” They nodded again, their eyes wide behind their round glasses. Lance sighed, defeated. “Of course it does.”

Lance turned to Allura, an accusation in his eyes. “Is everyone at this store a cryptid except me?”

“Um, actually, Lance, we’re not cryptids,” Hunk piped up. “We’re different forms of fae. See, uh, Allura is a classic faerie, a member of the Sidhe, but the rest of us are just various shapeshifters…”

Lance stared at him flatly until he trailed off, nervously twiddling his thumbs.

“Uh, if I might interrupt,” Pidge said, bringing Lance’s attention back towards them. “A couple of our regulars were worried about you, Lance. You should go say hi.”

“Oh, let me guess, some of the regulars are – are shapeshifters, too?”

“Yes, actually.”

Lance groaned.

~O~

True to Pidge’s word, some of the regulars _had_ been worried about him. Steve broke into a grin as soon as he saw Lance working, and some of the elderly ladies doted on him more than usual, crowing that they had been worried sick over him. Lance snuck glances at them through his charm whenever he got the chance from the back room.

It turned out that Steve was actually a huge snake, colored in earthy browns. Based on the size, Lance had to guess he was an anaconda or something. Well, at least he wasn’t venomous. Lance _knew_ his tongue was forked!

The elderly ladies in the corner turned out to be actual crows – or maybe ravens? Lance couldn’t tell. He was never very good with telling birds apart.

Near the end of his shift, the two people he had been most anxious to see walked in through the door, sitting at their usual spot at the bar. Lance watched them from the back room as Pidge approached, speaking quietly so that Lance couldn’t hear. Lance’s hand twitched around his charm.

Did he really want to know the truth about Keith? He was confused enough about his feelings for the guy – in recent weeks, his heart had stuttered whenever Keith walked in the door, and the sparkle in his eyes when he laughed made Lance’s brain stop working. But…

Lance had already seen – or thought he had seen – what Keith was. He remembered huge ears, hulking wings, sharp teeth. He remembered the shine of Keith’s eyes in the darkness. He remembered how quickly and silently Keith had left him – just as quickly and silently as he had arrived, until he was fighting whatever it was that attacked Lance.

Curiosity got the better of him, and Lance pulled the stone up to his eye.

In Shiro’s seat sat a huge grey wolf, a scar over the bridge of its snout. Lance nearly laughed to himself – Shiro was actually a werewolf. A werewolf! He thought it oddly fitting.

In Keith’s seat sat… well, Keith. Only it was sort of Keith. He still _looked_ like Keith, but he did have major changes. Like the fluffy ears sticking out of his hair – and why the hell was that cute? The wings were there, too, curled tightly against his back. He chewed on his lip while Shiro and Pidge talked, and even from here, Lance could see the fangs poking out.

Lance took a deep breath, dropped the charm, and marched up to Keith and Shiro with his resolve set.

“Why do you look different than the others?” Lance asked, slamming his hands on the bar in front of Keith. Both he and Shiro jumped in their seats and stared at him with wide eyes. Lance gestured to Shiro, and then to Hunk and Pidge. “They look like full animals. Why do you look different? Why are you special? Are you not a shapeshifter? Are you something different?” Lance paused, his chest heaving.

“And why were you there the other night when I drove off the road and got attacked by something in the field? Actually, better question, what the _hell_ was that?”

Keith was silent. He wouldn’t meet Lance’s challenging gaze, instead staring off to the side, his hands fidgeting under the bar. Lance wanted to grab his shoulders and shake him.

“Keith! I deserve to know!”

More silence. In the back of his mind, Lance was grateful that they were the only ones in the restaurant. They generally were around this time. The only sound was the sizzle of bacon on the grill.

Lance released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. He felt his blood run cold.

“Fine. Don’t tell me. Whatever.”

He turned around and walked into the back room, hung up his apron and his hat, and walked straight out the door. He heard Hunk and Allura calling to him, but he ignored them. They were all liars. They lied to him every single day he had worked there.

He had made it all the way to his car, his hand on the wet door handle – when had it started to rain? – when he heard another voice calling out to him.

“Lance! Please, wait!”

Lance turned slowly to see Keith slow to a stop at the edge of his car. His eyes shone in the light of the parking lot lamppost.

“Why should I wait, Keith?”

“I’ll… I’ll tell you everything. I’m sorry, okay?”

Lance scoffed, but stepped away from his car. “Yeah, sure, whatever, Mullet. You really gonna answer all my questions?”

Keith looked earnest. “Yes, Lance. Of course I will.”

Lance held up a finger, his blood still running cold in his veins. His voice sounded icier than he’d ever heard it – it almost didn’t sound like him. When was the last time he had been this angry?“Alright, then, let’s start with something simple. What are you?”

“Lance, that is the least simple thing you could have asked me.”

“Just answer the damn question.”

Keith sighed and looked away, clearly uncomfortable. Lance’s foot started tapping impatiently.

“I… Well, I guess the short answer is that I’m a shapeshifter… Sorta.”

“What do you mean, ‘sorta’?”

“I’m technically only half-fae. My father was human, my mother was a shapeshifter. So I’m odd even by our accounts.”

“Well I kinda already figured out that much, dude.” Lance took a breath. “What kind of shapeshifter?”

“I’m a, uh… a flying fox. That’s what my mother was.”

“… A flying fox?”

“You know, those huge bats?”

“You’re a bat.”

“Yes.”

Lance slapped his palm to his forehead, groaning. “God, could you _be_ any edgier?”

Keith bristled. “Hey! It’s not like I asked for this!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Lance said, waving his hand. “Next question. What was that thing that attacked me the other night?”

“Again with the hard questions…”

“Keith!”

“Sorry, sorry. That was… well, that was another shapeshifter.”

“Wait, what?”

Keith looked away again. “There are some of us who don’t want to live in hiding anymore. They… they think that humans are just food, or playthings. The one who attacked you was a member of that group.”

Lance felt all his fight drain from him. “That thing… that person… was going to… kill me?”

Keith looked up and met Lance’s gaze, his eyes seeming to glow. “Yes, Lance. I had to save you.”

“But why?”

“What do you mean, ‘why’? I didn’t want you to die, obviously!” Keith’s face went red. “You… I just wanted to keep you safe. No big deal.”

“Keith, of course it’s a big deal!” Lance stepped closer to Keith, ignoring the rain that started coming down harder on them. “And how could you have possibly known where I was? How did you find me when they attacked me?”

Keith grimaced. “I kinda… followed you?”

“You _what?_ ”

“Lance, just hear me out! I just overheard some of them talking! They come to this place all the time, and they could tell that you were human! I knew you were in danger so I followed you to make sure you were safe!”

“Keith, I’m pretty sure that counts as stalking!”

“And if I hadn’t done it, you would be _dead_ , Lance!” Keith was breathing heavily, his eyes wide and wild. When had he gotten this close? Lance could clearly see that his eyes were a strange color now. Purple? Close enough to look grey, but not quite. Keith deflated a bit. “You… you could have died. And I… I don’t know…”

Lance’s mouth felt dry. “Don’t know what?”

“I…”

“Keith, answer me. You said you would.”

“I don’t know what I would have done if you had died.” Keith’s face looked red. “You… you mean a lot to me, Lance. And I don’t know what would happen if you were suddenly taken… taken away from me.”

“Keith…”

He looked away and crossed his arms, but the pose looked more like he was holding himself together rather than closing himself off. “I’m sorry for following you. I shouldn’t have done that, not without telling you, at least. If you want, I’ll just… leave you alone from now on.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “I mean, I wouldn’t blame you. We have been lying to you this whole time.”

Lance felt the strange desire to reach out to Keith and comfort him. _Of course I won’t leave you,_ he wanted to say. _Please don’t leave me alone._

Oh, but why did he care? Keith was just a rival, a friend, nothing more. They butted heads all the time ( _only because you instigate it_ ), Lance did nothing but complain about him when he wasn’t around ( _you missed him, you just missed him_ ), and he was pretty sure Keith actually hated him because of how often he caught the other man staring ( _Keith just told you he wanted you safe_ ).

Wait.

Time slowed to a near stop as thoughts rushed through Lance’s head. He thought back to every interaction he and Keith had, every smile they shared over something stupid. He thought about how Hunk seemed to vanish whenever Keith walked in the door, leaving Lance to take care of him. He thought about the look Allura would give him when he rambled on about something Keith had done in the parking lot. He could see Pidge rolling their eyes at him, nudging Keith with their elbow as he turned bright red.

Lance was close enough to Keith now that he could count the raindrops that had stilled on his nose. He wanted to reach out and push the hair from his face, to get a closer look at those eyes that were so mysterious, the ones that were still averted to the ground. He wanted to unwrap Keith’s arms from his tight hold around himself and replace them with his own – Keith was shorter, he would fit neatly into his embrace, he just knew it.

Lance wasn’t sure when all these things had culminated into a gigantic crush, but here he was, absolutely floored by this realization. He felt winded.

Time was back to normal. The rain was coming down harder, drenching the two of them.

“Keith, I…” Lance choked out. Keith looked up at him, his expression resigned. Lance reached out on impulse and tugged on Keith’s arm, pulling it away from his body by the wrist. “I don’t want you to leave me alone. I just… I just wanted to know the truth.”

Was that hope that flickered in Keith’s expression?

“I can, uh… I can drop the glamour, if you want.”

“I’m sorry, the what?”

Keith let out a watery laugh and tightened his hand around Lance’s – when had they done that? Lance realized he didn’t care.

“A glamour is a spell we fae use to look human. It lets us hide in plain sight. But I can drop it if you want.”

“Won’t that put you in danger?”

“Not if only you can see me.”

“Wait, you can do that?”

Keith smiled softly and nodded. He reached up to Lance’s face with his free hand, but paused, suddenly unsure. “I, uh, have to touch you to do this. Can you close your eyes?”

Lance gulped and nodded, not trusting his voice. He shut his eyes tightly, trying not to think about how close they were standing. And Keith was still holding his hand!

Lance felt a light touch first on his cheekbone, then trailing over his eyelids and the bridge of his nose. A small electric current seemed to run under his skin – he felt like a battery. When Keith quietly told him he could open his eyes, he hesitated for only a moment before complying.

Keith was still standing before him, but he looked the same as he had through the stone charm. Lance took his time looking at Keith, trying to piece things together from what he knew. He could tell now that the giant ears were bat ears – he recalled seeing videos of flying foxes somewhere, and the color seemed to fit. This close, Lance could tell that Keith’s eyes were actually a dark purple, close enough to grey that even without a glamour could be confused as such. Large leathery wings were tucked against Keith’s back, and without thinking Lance reached out with his free hand to touch the tip of one peeking out over his shoulder. Keith twitched, but otherwise remained still.

The skin over the wing felt softer than Lance expected it to. He trailed his fingers along it, enjoying the velvety softness of it, and somehow his hands ended up tracing the edges of Keith’s fluffy ear. It flicked at his touch, causing him to recoil momentarily, but Keith didn’t tell him to stop, so he tried again. The fur along the ear was the softest thing Lance had ever felt, and he lost himself to the feeling.

It took Lance a few moments to realize what they must look like, with or without the glamor – standing together in the rain, holding hands, Lance’s free one buried in Keith’s hair, their faces only inches apart. He could just lean down right now, close the distance between them…

But Keith was already reaching up, standing on his toes to close the gap and press his lips gently to Lance’s. The contact sent an electric current through Lance, reaching all the way down to his toes, and he felt _alive_.

Keith pulled away just a second later, his expression a mix between wary and hopeful. “I hope I wasn’t misreading this situation,” he said quietly. Lance could feel his breath on his lips and forgot to think.

“Absolutely not,” he answered, leaning down to capture another kiss.

They lost track of time, pressed together in the dim parking lot light, leaning against Lance’s scratched up car. The rain drenched them thoroughly, but neither of them noticed, focused instead only on each other.

But all good things must come to an end, and to Lance’s dismay, Hunk’s interruption was that end. Lance heard only a small cough before Hunk started talking.

“Uh, guys? I’m really happy for you and all, but, uh, we kinda need Lance to come back to work, I mean, if he’s willing to work with us, and um… Sorry to bother you!”

Lance pulled away only slightly, holding Keith in place by the back of his neck. He sighed. “Alright, Hunk. I’ll be right in. Give me a couple minutes.”

“Sure thing, buddy!” Lance caught the thumbs-up Hunk gave him over Keith’s shoulder before heading back inside. He laughed lightly and turned his attention back to Keith, whose face was an interesting shade of bright red. The sight startled him, pulling another louder laugh from him.

“What!” Keith was immediately defensive.

“Nothing. You’re just cute.” Lance tapped the tip of Keith’s nose with a finger, making him blink. “You heard the man. I gotta get to work. But, uh… can we talk about this more later? When I get off?”

Keith smiled softly, his eyes warm. “Of course. I’ll wait for you.”

Lance grinned and stole another kiss. “Thanks, Keith.”

And then he went back inside to work at the Waffle House full of shapeshifters, the building that seemed to lie on the border between worlds.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you wanted a summary on what everyone was, here it is:  
> Allura and Coran: Seelie faeries  
> Hunk: shapeshifter, alligator  
> Pidge and Matt: shapeshifters, red foxes  
> Shiro: werewolf  
> Keith: half-shapeshifter, flying fox  
> I really liked the idea that as a half-fae, he would still look different to both sides, and would never be able to fully turn. I'm not sure if he could learn to fly? His wings might be big enough, given enough practice he might be able to glide or something. I dunno.
> 
> This was fun to write, even if it took me FOREVER. I hope you enjoyed it!


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